Man City youngsters shine to complete Champions League clean sweep

Manchester City completed a perfect Champions League group stage as 20-year-olds Micah Hamilton and Oscar Bobb scored their first goals for the club in a 3-2 win at Red Star Belgrade on Wednesday.

The defending champions had already secured their place in the last 16 as Group G winners, allowing Pep Guardiola the luxury to make nine changes.

Bobb and Hamilton were two of the youngsters given their chance to shine on European football’s biggest stage and revelled in the occasion.

A picture of Hamilton receiving instructions from Guardiola as a ball boy in 2017 went viral ahead of kick-off.

And he rewarded his manager’s faith to start the game by firing high past Omri Glazer from a narrow angle on 19 minutes.

Bobb has featured more prominently in first-team squads this season and the Norwegian’s solo run and cool finish doubled City’s lead early in the second half.

Red Star also had only pride to play for as they were guaranteed to finish bottom of the section before kick-off.

Hwang In-beom pulled a goal back for the Serbian champions.

But Hamilton impressed once more as he won a penalty and Kalvin Phillips stepped up to score his first City goal five minutes from time.

Aleksandar Katai struck for Red Star in stoppage time, but City held on to become just the second English side to win all six Champions League group games after Liverpool in 2021/22.

PSG through to last 16 despite Dortmund draw

Paris Saint-Germain scraped into the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday after a 1-1 draw at Borussia Dortmund as Newcastle lost to AC Milan in the group’s other game.

In danger of a first group-stage exit since the Qatari takeover in 2011, PSG came from a goal down to earn the point that sent them through as Group F runners-up.

Dortmund secured top spot with Milan third, behind PSG on head-to-head record, and Newcastle finishing bottom.

Karim Adeyemi gave Dortmund the lead early in the second half, but teenager Warren Zaire-Emery equalised as PSG reached the knockout phase for the 12th season in a row.

Despite the result, PSG’s timid showing against an inconsistent Dortmund means Luis Enrique’s side have plenty to do if they wish to go much further on the European stage.

By finishing first Dortmund will avoid several of the competition favourites including holders Manchester City, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in the last 16.

The sides miraculously failed to score in a blistering first half, with both missing several massive chances.

Dortmund knew they would top the group by avoiding defeat, but Edin Terzic’s men roamed forward, creating several chances but also leaving space for PSG’s speedy attackers.

Marco Reus and Marius Wolf went close early for the hosts until PSG roared to life, pinning Dortmund on the ropes but somehow failing to land a telling blow.

Lee Kang-in missed with the goal begging after just a quarter of an hour and Mbappe went even closer just a minute later.

The 2018 World Cup winner rounded Gregor Kobel and shot goalwards before defender Niklas Suele flew through the air, intercepting the ball centimetres from the line.

Dortmund then missed some golden chances of their own, both Reus and Adeyemi blasting wide.

With news filtering through of Newcastle’s half-time lead, PSG ramped up their pursuit of the opening goal with Mats Hummels putting his body on the line to deny Mbappe early.

The home side would however strike first, Niclas Fuellkrug laying on a splendid pass for Adeyemi to roll in the opener.

With PSG staring at elimination Mbappe put the team on his back, dribbling down the left flank and shedding his marker, his squared ball deflected out to Zaire-Emery, who advanced towards goal before blasting home.

Mbappe looked to have booked PSG’s ticket late, scoring with just over 10 minutes remaining, but the strike was chalked off by VAR for offside.

Milan end Newcastle dreams but fall short of Champions League last 16

Samuel Chukwueze’s late winner sent Newcastle crashing out of Europe after a 2-1 defeat by AC Milan on Wednesday.

Victory was not enough for last season’s semi-finalists to progress as Paris Saint-Germain’s 1-1 draw away to Borussia Dortmund was enough for the French champions to secure second place in Group F.

But Milan did snatch at least the consolation of a place in the Europa League away from the Magpies, whose first Champions League campaign in 20 years ended in disappointment.

Ravaged by a lengthy list of injuries, fatigue has taken its toll on Newcastle, who have now lost three consecutive games in all competitions.

Eddie Howe had been forced to name the same 10 outfield players for the previous five games due to a lack of options.

Callum Wilson’s return allowed Howe to make one alteration as he replaced Alexander Isak.

Milan have also been hamstrung by an injury crisis that forced Theo Hernandez to deputise at centre-back.

Fikayo Tomori was the only fit central defender available to Stefano Pioli and saved his side from falling behind early on.

The England international produced a stunning last-ditch tackle on his own goal-line to prevent Miguel Almiron tapping home Joelinton’s cross.

Rafael Leao’s return from injury boosted Milan’s hopes of salvaging their European season and the Portuguese winger was inches away from opening the scoring on a rare foray forward from the visitors before the break.

Instead, Newcastle’s pressure was met with some reward in a spectacular opening goal.

Anthony Gordon surged through the Milan midfield and played in Lewis Miley, who laid the ball back to Joelinton to fire a sweet strike into the top corner.

An already electric atmosphere was intensified at the start of the second half as news of Dortmund’s opener against PSG filtered through to the home support.

However, two goals in a matter of minutes turned the complexion of a gripping Group F once more.

The French champions equalised in Germany before Milan also got back on level terms.

Newcastle failed to deal with Leao’s cross from the left and Giroud set up Christian Pulisic to drill home on his return to England.

The game raged from end-to-end in the final stages with a draw no good for either side.

Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan produced a stunning save to turn Bruno Guimaraes’ shot onto the bar.

At the other end, Leao should have buried Newcastle’s Champions League dreams when he hit the post with just Martin Dubravka to beat.

However, Milan were more ruthless with their next opportunity as substitute Chukwueze curled brilliantly into the far corner six minutes from time.

The Italians should have added to their advantage in stoppage time as a stretched Newcastle became increasingly bedraggled.

Theo Hernandez missed an open goal after Dubravka had gone forward for a corner.

Tomori then sprinted forward on the counter-attack to hit the post.

But Milan did their job on the night, if not over the course of the group, to at least ensure they have European football to look forward to in 2024.

Porto eliminate Shakhtar to secure Champions League knockout place

Porto reached the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday as Galeno netted a double and veteran Pepe scored in a 5-3 victory in their winner-takes-all clash with Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk.

The hosts only needed to avoid defeat at the Estadio do Dragao to progress from Group H with Barcelona, while Shakhtar needed a win to pip them to a top-two finish.

Antwerp beat Barcelona 3-2 in the other group game as Porto finished level with the Catalan giants on points but ended behind them on head-to-head.

Shakhtar had to settle for third place in the group and a spot in the draw for the Europa League knock-out round play-offs.

Galeno forced the ball home from close range to give Porto a ninth-minute lead after Evanilson did well to stretch and pull the ball across for his fellow Brazilian.

But Shakhtar gave themselves hope of a comeback as Danylo Sikan tapped in Oleksandr Zubkov’s pass to finish off a sweeping move just before the half-hour mark.

Porto regained control two minutes before half-time, though, when Galeno’s strike took a slight deflection and flew into the bottom corner.

Shakhtar’s hopes of progression were effectively ended in the 62nd minute when Galeno played in Mehdi Taremi who hammered a left-footed strike into the top corner to give Porto a two-goal cushion.

The visitors grabbed a second goal 17 minutes from time when Sikan’s shot was saved by Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa, but the ball rebounded off an unfortunate Stephen Eustaquio and into his own net.